Lowdown: Steve Jobs' biography in a three set play.
Review:
If
you read Steve Jobs' famous biography by Walter Isaacson
, you would arrive at the inevitable conclusion the guy was an asshole. A visionary asshole who made a difference to our lives, but an asshole still. Steve Jobs, the [new] movie (there were several others) by Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs, essentially takes this life spanning biographic tale and condenses it into a movie that is told to us through a theatre like play made of three distinct episodes.
, you would arrive at the inevitable conclusion the guy was an asshole. A visionary asshole who made a difference to our lives, but an asshole still. Steve Jobs, the [new] movie (there were several others) by Danny Boyle, starring Michael Fassbender as Jobs, essentially takes this life spanning biographic tale and condenses it into a movie that is told to us through a theatre like play made of three distinct episodes.
First
we have Jobs as he is about to make his 1984 presentation of the
original Mac. That, if you recall your Apple history, was a
commercial failure that ended up with him getting chucked out of the
company he founded. The second act takes place just as Jobs is about to
make his NEXT presentation of the failed product that, as much of a
failure as it was, ended up securing his way back to Apple. And the
third act has Jobs about to present the new iMac, the one running the
UNIX based operating system that's still running Macs today, as he
cements his return and his victory.
The
point of this division is to emphasise the conflicts in Jobs' life and
their evolution as Jobs evolves. Setting all three acts in the intense few hours prior to Jobs' famous presentations helps condense the the tension into the very combustible. And there is plenty of that to go around. There is Jobs' denying his fatherhood
of daughter Lisa, his disregard for fellow Steve and Apple founder
Wozniak (Seth Rogan), and his love/hate relationship to Scully (the guy
who took over from Jobs as CEO during that intermediate period, played
by Jeff Daniels).
There can be no
doubt Steve Jobs is quality drama offering a crafty script and some fine
acting, most notably by Fassbender but also by a Kate Winslet playing his
assistant (?). Alas, at two hours long, this talkfest is rather tiring
and heavy; it's not a movie that easy to watch, just as no person can
sustain two hours of real life condensed dialog without a break.
Thus,
ultimately, Steve Jobs fails as a movie. It fails graciously and no one
can deny its smarts, but it is still not a good movie. Besides, I can
tell you the main message you will take off the movie right now: Steve
Jobs was an asshole [with some redeeming qualities]. Just like most of
the rest of us.
Overall: I think the
biography of Steve Jobs represents a story most of us can learn from,
but I would recommend the book over the movie. The latter is probably
recommended only to fans of old style theatrical dramas and those wishing to learn about Jobs in no more than two hours. 3 out of 5 crabs.
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